a. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to the field of nutritional supplements for ruminant animals, especially dairy cattle, during calving. More particularly, the present invention is directed to a nutritional supplement in a unit dosage form that is capable of preventing or minimizing the effects of three ailments that commonly afflict calving ruminant animals, especially calving dairy cattle.
The present invention is useful because it is capable of preventing and/or inhibiting one of more of the three serious ailments of calving ruminant animals and the subsequent need for veterinary treatment.
b. Background
There is a triad of ailments that commonly afflict ruminants, particularly dairy cattle, at the time of calving, which is also known as "freshening."
The first ailment is metabolic and it concerns the animal's need for calcium. The demand for calcium comes from the heavy milk production at freshening. This demand is even greater in dairy cattle. During freshening, the udder of the lactating animal extracts calcium from the blood and converts it into calcium caseinate--a milk protein. Normally, the extracted calcium is replaced by calcium absorbed from the rumen. However, if there is insufficient calcium in the rumen to replace the calcium extracted by the udder, the animal's blood calcium concentration falls. A low blood calcium means that less calcium is available for muscle tissue contraction and the cow goes "down." This condition is commonly referred to as "down cow" syndrome or "milk fever." Medically, the condition is known as "hypocalcemia." Regardless of its name, the condition is not always foreseen. Thus, any treatment is usually in response to the problem and not directed to preventing the condition. However, treatment is not an adequate substitute for prevention, since even with treatment, the animal may suffer some permanent damage.
The treatment of "hypocalcemia" or "down cow" syndrome is most commonly done orally with calcium chloride. However, calcium chloride has its drawbacks as it may cause throat lesions, dehydration and is so unpalatable to the animal that the animal must be held down during administration. Generally, the calcium chloride is administered as a liquid or gel-type product and is applied directly to the back of the animal's tongue or throat.
An alternative treatment is by intravenous injection of an organic salt, such as calcium gluconate or chelated calcium; however, this must be done by a veterinarian which is costly.
A second problem of ruminant animals during freshening is a condition known as ketosis. This may or may not occur with hypocalcemia. At the start of lactation, there is a sudden and heavy demand for the production of lactose for the milk. This causes a depletion of the animal's blood sugar (glucose). If the animal does not have a sufficient reserve of carbohydrate in the liver and/or a sufficient source in the feed, then it must rely on an alternative source of energy, its own body fat. When fat is metabolized, the result is not glucose but ketone. While ketones can provide energy to muscle, they cannot supply energy needed as glucose, to the brain. As a result, the animal may become anorexic or exhibit bizarre behavior. The condition is also known as hypoglycemia.
The main source of glucose for the cow is found in propionic acid which is produced in the rumen. Propylene glycol can also be administered and serve as a source of propionate which in turn can be converted into blood glucose.
Treatment here again tends to wait for the onslaught of the problem rather than prevention. This is because the treatment has been by intravenous injection of glucose which must be administered by a veterinarian.
A third metabolic problem may occur when dairy cattle feed on high phosphate grasses. In this instance, the phosphate pairs up with the magnesium in the animal's urine and the animal may excrete more magnesium than it receives in its feed. This scenario may result in a metabolic disease called grass tetany or hypomagnesiumemia.